Ponytails styled by Victoria Gusto; chignon styled by Anna Vegas, both of Liquid the Salon. Photos by Christine H. Wetzel.
With everything '80s making a comeback, wasn't it just a matter of time before the perm returned? Well, it's making an official comeback this spring and, like every other recent throwback, the 'do has a definite period update. It's not the poodle-tight look that every Kirk Cameron-obsessed, layered sock-wearing girl was sporting 20 years ago.
"It's not what you think of when you think perm," said New York-based hair stylist Paul Cucinello. "Eventually, it will evolve into that very curly look, but now, (stylists) don't want to scare anyone by even using the word. It's just being called 'reformatting.' "
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The difference in the reformatted style, is the size and positioning of the rods. They are larger and, instead of running in a line from the forehead to the nape of the neck, the rods are placed on the sides to create volume at the ends, not the roots. "(It's) very Victoria's Secret," said Cucinello.
The perm isn't the only Spring/Summer '06 hair trend to pay homage to the '80s. Expect to see a lot of extensions as well. Either in ponytails or long braids, these faux locs are like clip on ties that give you instant length and polished style.
According to Cucinello, the only possible hindrance to long hair dominating the scene this summer is the influence of Hollywood.
"The only short cut you'll see is when Sienna Miller's movie ("Factory Girl") comes out," he said, "but that's it."
As far as do-it-yourself styling goes, you'll want to keep the elastics handy. "You'll see a lot of braids," Cucinello said. "Either slicked back and long or taken out for texture."
But, "Nothing over the ear!" he clarified. "It's very low and over the shoulder; very girl next door."
To take these casual styles from day to night, undo your low-riding ponies and braids and get out the hair pins because it's all about the updo.
"There will be two very contrasting looks you'll see," Cucinello said. "The tousled, just-off-the-beach look and the really polished, refined one." The updo fills the latter category and the idea here is buns and chignons (a la Charlize Theron at the Academy Awards), with lots of height at the crown.
What you won't see this spring (or shouldn't anyway) are the Bettie Page bangs and stick straight styles. "Anything too severe and harsh -- like geometric cuts -- those are out," Cucinello said. What is surprisingly in are a few styles that were once considered faux pas, such as intentionally exposed roots, which have been gracing celeb mags.
"Roots are fine because your hair is naturally darker there," Cucinello said -- as are brows that don't match your hair color. "Only if your hair is very far away from the shade of your brows. Then you should probably lighten them a shade."
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Since the unwritten hair rule of thumb is to lighten the locs when temperatures rise, master colorist Paul Cucinello offers a few tips for highlighting your hair. But first, let the no-no's be known.
pepe le ewwww! "Nothing chunky," Cucinello said. "Don't do anything you wouldn't see nature doing on its own." That includes the Rainbow Brite look of neon shades weaved into the hair, and the skunk stripes Christina Aguilera once favored. "Those kind of things are fun if you're 14 years old, but as an adult it just doesn't translate," he said.
it's all in the shade The trick is to have others wondering if you're hair is simply sunkissed or if you've got a highly skilled stylist, which is Cucinello's first tip: "Make sure you go to a person who is really, really good."
For brunettes, he recommends getting a fresh layer of highlights and then glossing them over (with a toner or demi-permanent color) to meld the new color into the original base color. And, whatever you do, "don't add blonde highlights," he said. "Don't go more than two shades lighter than your natural color," Also avoid spray-in lighteners, which will only give you the brassy look you're trying to avoid.
Since blondes are already pretty light, the goal is to maintain a shade that doesn't have Clairol written all over it. "You want to weave small, fine strands of lighter blonde in," Cucinello said, "so you don't look like a bottle blonde." Since your skin tone will likely warm up over the summer, blondes may want to add even lighter shades at the hairline, steadily graduating to deeper shades.
The redhead poses the most unique challenge in highlighting, because they look best with a uniform, colored head, according to Cucinello.
"The problem is that highlights on redheads make their hair look super dyed," he said. "Look at Julianne Moore and Debra Messing. Both of them have uniform color and look great." Reason being? There isn't much variation in reds. Cucinello recommends strawberry blonde or copper blonde streaks around the hairline as an alternative.
Mar. 30, 2006
